Abstract

Sample to Answer Device for Multi-Omic Biomarker Analysis of Cancer Patient Blood Samples

Michael Heller, Distinguished Scientist - Knight Cancer Institute, Center for Cancer Early Detection and Research (CEDAR), Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)

Multi-Omic approaches for different biomarkers is becoming a viable strategy for liquid biopsy diagnostics and early cancer detection. Using new electrokinetic devices (ACE chip, Biological Dynamics, San Diego, CA) now allow sample to answer Multi-Omic analysis of exosome and extracellular vesicle (EV) biomarkers as well as cell free (cf) DNA and RNA from the “same” 20-50 µL sample of blood, plasma or serum. Fluorescent detection of the cf-DNA and RNA, and immunostaining for exosome/EV protein biomarkers can be rapidly carried out directly on-chip. Subsequently, cf-DNA and exosome/EV entrapped RNA can be eluted from the ACE chip, whereupon dd-PCR, PCR and sequencing analysis is conducted to identify cancer-related point mutations. We were able to show correlation of immunofluorescent detection of exosome/EV glypican-1 and cf-DNA KRAS mutations determined by digital PCR and Sanger Sequencing for a number of pancreatic patient samples. This provides further advancement towards integrating multi-omic analysis as a single, on-chip platform, with an ultimate goal of providing seamless sample-to-answer point-of-care liquid biopsy diagnostics and therapy monitoring from a small sample of patient blood.